The Florida Football Insiders Podcast is brought to you by Titan Home Lending, Ticketsmarter
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agent. Enjoy the podcast look at college football news, analysis and insight from
around the Sunshine State. This is Florida Football Insiders, a part of the
College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast nets. And here's your host, Jason Tylers.
All Right, welcome back, folks to year two of the Florida Football
Insiders podcast as part of the College Coast College Football Coast to Coast podcast network.
I am your host, Jason, and I'm down here in the beautiful
state of Florida. We are embracing ourselves for a possible hurricane down this way.
So we're starting to get a little nervous because lots of the reports say
the hurricane is going to be heading towards central west central Florida here in the
neck of the woods where I'm at here in the Tampa Bay area. So
hopefully, if it does, the impact is minimal. But we are here
for year two again College Florida Football Insiders Podcast. Want to give a shout
out to Steve Carney, our executive producer for getting all these all our podcasts
on the air and in the places they need to be on the right days
and all that kind of goods. So thanks to you, Steve, our
quarterback of our team, as well as TJ. Reeves, kind of the
ringleader of the college football Coast to Coast podcast network. So we are back
for year two. If you haven't haven't been with us before, this podcast
is centered on all things State of Florida college football. We'll even sprinkle in
a little pro football as well occasionally, so try to highlight some of the
Florida guys that are playing in the state of Florida in the NFL, and
we'll maybe hit on a couple of little interesting NFL topics related to the Florida
teams, the Jaguars, the Bucks, Dolphins. So we'll try to make
this is gonna be an all Florida centric football podcast. We are gonna have
a great list set a guest for you throughout the year. We got gonna
have beat writers that are covering that different teams all over the state of Florida
from Florida State, Miami FSU, the Gators, South Florida Bulls, FAU
FIU all the big stories that are coming out in the State of Florida.
We will have beat writers, we'll talk to us some play by play guys,
which we're gonna do to not this this episode, we're gonna preview three
of our State of Florida teams, University of Florida, Florida State, and
USF. We've got the play by play voice of the Gators, Sean Kelly.
We've got the play by play voice of the Florida State Seminoles, Jeff
Colahane. Both those guys are having gonna have huge games. Opening week,
Florida's host is going out to Salt Lake City to see the utah Utes in
a return earn game from the game in Gainesville last year. Florida State hosting
a top ten rated LSU team playing in Orlando on Sunday night of Labor Day,
and the USF Bulls. We'll be talking to Joey Johnston, the scythe
one reporter for their radio coverage. South Florida will be heading to Bowling Green,
Kentucky to face the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky. In year one of Alex
Golis, the new head coach at the Universe of South Florida. So we're
gonna have three previews for you this week. Next week, we're gonna preview
the Miami Hurricanes, who have a big Week two showdown with Texas A and
M. We're also gonna talk We're gonna talk some UCF nights as they enter
the Big twelve. We're gonna talk to Matt Michelle who works for the Orlando
Sentinel. He's gonna be previewing the Central Florida nights as well. So we're
gonna have all your team previews for you. So so stay tuned this week
and next week for that FIU. They got off, They got off the
mat early and they played Week zero in Ruston, Louisiana against La Tech.
Lost a very competitive game twenty two seventeen. Ltech scored with about a minute
and a half to go in the game to win the game. So a
good start, good effort there by Mike McIntyre and Florida International. Many people
thought Ltech would beat them pretty salenties, but good a nice job there by
coach McIntyre and the FIU, and we will get have some FIU chatter as
well throughout the season as well. So again, Florida is kicking off their
season Thursday night this week in Salt Lake City. Tough matchup, got a
new quarterback, which we're gonna talk to Sean Kelly about and give you all
the all the details you need to know about the Florida roster players to keep
an eye on coaching things, all that kind of good stuff. And then
we're gonna obviously next up, we're gonna talk to Jeff Colehaning up in Tallahassee
about the seven Holes, Mike Norvell year four ton of expectations for the Knowles
National championship potential if they can get through the month of September, two huge
games in September. And then we're gonna talk to Joey Johnston it's part of
the USF Bulls Radio Network to talk preview the Bulls, talk about new coach
Alex Golish, all the things that go into being a new coach and restructure
in the program and all that. So great episode for you this week,
Florida football insiders. Remember you can reach out to me on Twitter or x
or whatever we're calling it these days at JPO Sports, or if you haven't
already done so, hit the subscribe button on your podcast platform, so you'll
get this episode this podcast deliver to your laptop or your phone every single week,
and we'll be here every week of the college football season. Or and
you can watch our video interviews of the preview of Florida Florid State USF this
week and all future interviews that we're doing. You can also catch that on
my YouTube channel, Jason Powers Sports Channel. I also host the Powers on
Sports podcast, which is kind of a national centric podcast. We'll be talking
tons of NFL college football, kind of the news of the week in the
sports world. So check out the Powers on Sports podcast. Also, I
host the press Box Radio show on Wednesdays Wednesday mornings. You can check out
press Box radio dot com. My guy, Mike Grace is the host based
out of Atlanta. We do a ton of college football talk, SEC Talk,
and again I'm on that show every Wednesday morning eight to ten am Eastern
Time, or you can listen to it on demand. We're on in about
fifteen markets in five different states, so we've got some good reach all over
the Southeast, So definitely check out press Box Radio dot com to find an
affiliate near you, and or you can listen to it on demand or listen
live on weekday mornings eight am to ten am, and I host with Mike
Grace on Wednesday morning. So, and if you're in the Tampa Bay and
Orlando markets, you might catch me on Spectrum News occasionally. I'm a contributor
to their Spectrum Sports three sixty nightly show on at ten thirty Eastern time.
If you're in the Tampa and Orlando markets do I do some contributions to that
show as well. So try to stay busy here and again appreciate your support,
and again check out Florida Football Insiders. If you haven't already subscribe,
hit that subscribe button, tell your friends who are all the state of Florida
football fans, and all that good stuff. So we'll be back in just
a minute or two. We're gonna start off again our season previews with the
Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles, and the USF Bulls. Well, the
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ticketsmarter dot com for all of your ticket needs this fall. All right,
welcome into our simulcast podcast of the Powers On Sports podcast in Florida Football Insiders.
We are so welcomed and so happy to have the Gators play by play
voice Sean Kelly in year two with the Gators. Also, Sean also is
does a lot of work for ESPN as well throughout the year. So and
we're got an exciting year two. Billy Napier up in Gainesville, a lot
of changes on the roster, new quarterback and such. I want to welcome
Seawan to the podcast appreciate you being with a Shawan Hi Jason. Great to
be heroes always, and greetings from the swamp. I'm in my home broadcast
booth for the first time this year. As we speak, the Gators are
having their first full contact scrimmage of the summer. Every calls a fall camp,
it's the heating necks is like one hundred and five. Let's call it
summer camp, shall we? Yes, no doubt about it, no doubt
all Right, Before we get to the Gators, I want to talk to
you about a couple of things you did over the summer. Saw you on
the airwave. You did some Summer League out in Las Vegas, done some
baseball from MLB Baseball for ESPN. Talk to me about Summer League. Is
all the hype about mister wemban Yanna. You are out there during that period
of time. Give us a little sense of the hype about Winban Yanna.
Oh, the hype's real. I mean, it's it's as crazy as I've
ever seen the Summer League festivities in Las Vegas, and I think in a
lot of ways it's justified. We're talking about a very, very talented individual
with freakish size and the combination that we see now and again, but maybe
not this complete, this early in a young man's career. And he's proved
himself not just in European play, Jason, but look, they also played
some exhibition games against G league talent and he fair just fine. So surely
enough he's he's in a great organization to develop too, with the San Antonio
Spurs, and you could see it kind of how it played out the first
game, uncomfortable, trying to find his way, and then sure enough he
progressed pretty quickly through his next couple of nights on the floor. And again
he's playing with guys right now that he probably won't play with when he's been
the big club, and they've only been together for like eight days, that
kind of thing, So you can see what this will be. You can
see where some of his growing pains will come from along the way. But
he, I think, is still believed to be a generational talent based on,
you know, the body of work and the glimpses that he showed in
Las Vegas. I think the Spurs are just happy that he got a little
taste and got out of there unscathed, but they got hurt and they'll get
him into camp and Greg Popovitch will begin to bring him along. So I
want to think he's a generational talent. You know, it's too early to
say at this point, but all signs are pointing to that. But probably
very cool for you to be out there with that much hyper on a guy
who's you know, coming into the league. It was I mean, you
know, I didn't have any of his games, but I was there,
and and the ripple effect that it had upon all of the other games,
you know, the attendance alone, and and some re leagues unique in that
it's it's two buildings that are connected. You know, one is the Thomas
and mac Arena where un OB plays its games. The other side is kind
of their smaller gym, the Cock's Pavilion. And so, you know,
fans can they basically pay a day rate, so you you lay down your
bucks and you get a tick and that means you can stay all day,
which can be four games, and you can go back and forth. So
it really has kind of become the center of the basketball universe for that,
you know, eleven twelve days every summer. And so with the when by
nano factor, with the growth of the event. You know, NBA did
NBA Cohn for the first time in Las Vegas. While they're out there,
and it's become a thing. It really has. Even just in the four
years that I've been working out there, it's different now than it was the
first year that I did it. It's the hardest week of my year,
Frankly. I mean, if I'm being honest about the preparation, the schedule,
all of that, it's it's a week that I I dread and look
forward to all the same time. So you know, I know that's a
total contradiction, but that's exactly what Summer League is for me now in summer
out in Las Vegas. So I like the fact that we've had guys come
around off the Big Club to watch the potential new town. Those guys are
getting together. They're kind of making a working vacation out of it. So
there's plenty of people to talk to. You know, most all the front
office people are around. Uh you know, you know on Baseball Winner Meetings
that if you were looking to get a job in baseball, you went to
the Baseball Winner meetings because that's where the job fair was. Or you might
bump into a GM that that kind of a thing. That's where this is
headed too. So it's like I think Baseball winner meetings and NFL owners meetings
and Pro Bowl and All Star weekend kind of all rolled into one. That's
kind of yeah, job fair, but just a networking opportunity. And it's
again it's excuse me a big your pardon. You know all these people in
the league, right, but everybody's doing this all season long. It's hard
to be in one place, It's right, it's All Star weekend, and
most people during All Star weekend, Jason, they're going on some kind of
vacation. Many go to All Star week again wherever city that is, but
a lot of guys just trying to get a break in the middle of the
season. This is truly the one time where you'll find just about everybody in
the NBA in one spot. So that's pretty cool, cool, all right.
The other big thing you had this summer. At the beginning of the
summer, you were part of the Gators broadcast at the College World Series.
Yeah, first time. Yeah, I didn't turn out the way you wanted,
I know, obviously with LSU winning the title, but cool experience for
you to go to the College World Series, no doubt, especially in my
first year at Florida. It was my second time going there. I went
in two thousand and five when I was with Tulane University and that was a
bit of a short stay and it was at the old Park. I got
to do games at Rosenblack, which I'm really grateful that I did get to
to work in that venue. It was a bucket list item at the time.
It's still a bucket list item. It should be for really any baseball
fan. But you know, you go into this year, I thought,
I thought, Jason, it was one of the best fields we've seen in
a long long time. And I'm talking about all the eight teams that were
there. I thought all eight teams were just dynabite. And sure enough,
when you have that, we got great games, great games all the way
through the College World Series. And yeah, with the were the last two
games weird? Yes, Florida won by twenty in Game two and then lose
by you whatever, it was eleven or twelve or in the finale. No,
I mean that that's what was so weird about how it finished. But
I think the two best teams played for it in the ends and that's what
you want. And thirteen days anywhere is a long time. But if it's
got to be anywhere, why not Omaha, Nebraska and June. So it
was that was a great way to kick it off. Did you contribute to
the shot? The shot count at the restronter that all LSU people. Now,
it was a lot of LSU people, And look look Florida fans who
were there. They had a little taste and all that. I just kind
of got into this motive. They if they want the Jello trophy, knock
yourself out. I was pulling for the big trophy. Unfortunately for us,
LSU took the Jello Trophy and the big trophy got the town. So yeah,
it's just the way it happened. They're not gonna there's many many drinking
contests around the country to l ls. Who's gonna win them all? Most
of the time. Yeah, and then especially when they're big boy money guys
throw thrill with the money. I don't like that's right, you know the
guy that owns racing knes and all that stuff. Yeah, Todd Graves.
All right, all right, let's get to the Gators. Six and seventy
billion napiers year one, we're coming into year two. The Gators have not
had three straight losing seasons since back in the nineteen fifties, so we're trying
to avoid that in year two. Coach Napier obviously the first question if he
wants to kind of get a feel of as a quarterback situation. Obviously you're
watching a scrimmage right now, so you're gonna probably have a better feel here
in a few days of what the final decision is. But how do you
think just that position in general, how do you think that is gonna unfold
for the Gators. Yeah, you know, Coach Napier is not named a
starter yet. He might do so later today as we're visiting here on on
a Thursday. I think that he had he had said something about by the
end of this week he wanted the name Arder. Obviously, he retains the
right to wait till next week if he wants to. But Jason, I
think I think all signs are pointing toward Graham Mertz being the lead guy coming
out of this thing. And he's he's the transfer from Wisconsin, and I
didn't have a real good read on him during spring football. I didn't know
really what to think I'm just being honest, but man, he's as he
had a great camp so far, and you can see the thirty two start
experience, whether it's how he runs the huddle, what his meeting room was
like, what the team feels like around him when he's on the field.
I think he's thrown very well, more so than he did in the spring.
He can make all the throws and I had a question mark about that
as he drops the pass inside the five yard line to one of his tight
ends here as we speak. So I think he's the guy. I you
know, obviously you're gonna miss the explosive plays that we out from Anthony Richardson
a year ago. But I think if Mertz is the guy, this is
a more consistent quarterback for the Gators. He'll throw for better than fifty three
percent, he'll manage the game, and he'll beat you too. I mean
sometimes we get we get that label of well, he's a good game manager.
That's kind of like saying, bless your heart for God's sex. I
mean, come on, So, I think I think in this sense this
is a positive as far as his managing of the game and whatnot. And
he's got guys around him. Obviously, he's got the talented running backs in
Montreal Johnson and Trevor Etn and there at the transfer from Tulane and Can't and
can Carroll. We'll see how the offensive line is. I think that's a
question mark. Those five guys last year were so good. But Kingsley a
glock in his back at center, I think he anchors that situation. Austin
Barber No protects the quarterbacks blind side at left tackle, and we'll go from
there. We'll see how this plays out. There's a couple of transfers involved,
but that's something to watch early around the quarterback situation. You know,
I didn't leave you with any backups. But Jack Miller is obviously in that
conversation and at a young name man named Max Brown. Also those in that
conversation with tulsa kid who really's got great feet and a rocket arm, just
a little more raw than say Mercer Miller is. That's your quarterback room.
And then Ricky Pearsall Jason a wide receiver has been unguardable, unguardable during camp.
I mean, obviously we knew how good he was last year. And
you hope, oh boy, I hope you get the same Ricky Well,
I think you're gonna get a better Ricky even now this year he's just been
unbelievable. And then Kayla Douglas is going to factor in Marcus Burke. And
then you're young, You're really young at the rest of the wide receiver position,
but really fast, Andy Jean, Adamzelle, Eugene Wilson. Those are
names of Dators fans, college football fans. I pick up pretty quick when
it comes to the game, and then I'm just running through the whole team.
That's been That's been the question with the Gators the last four or five
years. Do they have the electric the electric guy on the outside. I
know Pier Saul's good, there are there other guys that can step up and
be that electric kind of wide dynamic wide receiver skill player. Yeah, those
are the names I just gave you. Those are the guys that are gonna
either be or will be down the road, you know, as they learn
the right route running and all that. I'll tell you here's the here's another
guy that has really caught my eye during camp. And he's not a jet
like Ricky is or Mizelle or any Jean, but you know Willie Jackson's kid,
Khalil. Yeah, Khalil's had a really big jump here from what I
saw from him last year. Yeah, not the fastest guy in that group,
but a really good route runner and catches everything just like his dad practice
just the same, same same deal, Right, Dad's a little taller think
Khalil is, but he's a guy that's made a big jump going into the
season. I think like he may not be a starter, but he's going
to be in this rotation. He's made that kind of an impact I think
in a lot of ways coming into last year, me getting to learn the
landscape and everything else. As it turns out, for whatever reason, Khalil
was in some kind of a hole and had to work all the way out
of the hole. Then kind of gets stabilized. And now he's had this
offseason to kind of set himself up to make this jump, and he's given
and with that comes the scholarship. He's put on full scholarship and and he's
made them look good doing so by what he's done here in camp. So
yeah, I think he factors in as well. How close his coach Napier
do you think to the roster construction? The way he wants. Obviously,
it's a year or two of recruiting transfer Portal. How close do you think
he's to where he really thinks this roster can be another year, another year,
And then I say that, I say another year, but then let's
give that last chunk of the roster the year to develop in his system.
So so this time next year, they're better and we're probably looking at just
about everybody being a Billy Napier guy, whether it's Portal or the recruiting classes
of twenty three twenty four. And then we have to let that group kind
of have a year in the system, and then I think we can say,
okay, where do we feel like Billy Napier's program is now? You
and I both know patience is not a virtue here with our fan base,
and I get it, and I'm okay with it, but sometimes we got
to be patient a little bit. Remember what Napier walked into. I think,
I think you're going to see a dramatic difference just even this year.
I mean, in a lot of ways. You better do a little homework
and have a scorecard, as they say in baseball, to know a lot
of these new guys the rosters turned over in a big way. So of
the Oscar was here in January, which is great because you're gonna turn over
a bunch of guys, you want them to be together at least a little
bit, in this case, eight months in the offseason program. But I
want to say we're talking about forty I'm the off on one or two here,
forty nine newcomers out of a total of one eighteen the one eight Keep
in mind the one eighteen includes walk ons too, So yeah, there'll be
names. You recognize that there's a lot of guys that are going to be
impact players that are new to the Gators. But the good news is this,
most everybody in that group brings a significant amount of experience. Like I
mentioned Graham, Graham Merts brings thirty two starts here to Florida. To Roger
Mitchell, who's going to be a big part of the linebacking group. He
was a captain at Ohio State. R J. Molten, who's gonna be
in the secondary, a leader at Michigan, and fresh start for him kind
of the last thing he wants to do before hopefully making the jump to the
league. So when you combine the totally Division one snaps. In this transfer
class, it totals ten thousand plus, so that's significant. So you're you're
bringing in experience and guys who fit your mold, all those things. So
the defense was historically awful last year. Uh, this defense is much improved.
Armstrong yep whose energy is contagious. Guys love them. What's the scheme?
What is it? Is it a blitzing scheme for three three four?
It's it's aggressive, but you can't even call it a three four four three
or monster it's it's Uh. It changes a lot, like Jason. Sometimes
they'll be one linebacker yea. Sometimes they'll have a traditional two middle and you
know you'll see Will Sam and might come to the field at the same time.
It I just know this. It's big upfront, bigger than it has
been here in the last several years, really big upfront. So the offensive
line is too. Offensive line will probably end up being the second biggest in
the SEC. So you'll notice right away Florida's defense is big upfront and and
quick off the edge. Justice Boon, Princely, Umami Ellen Principal guys off
the edge right now and then young but more skilled in the secondary, and
that's gonna you know, safety. Safety is a position where I'm like,
let's see how this goes. Corner. I think you're probably okay. They've
always been good at corner. Florida has always been good at corner, right
right. But collectively though, I would say though, the secondary of the
last two years, if you look at them as a unit, has been
shaky sometimes okay, and the and the defensive numbers bear that out. The
last two years, Florida fans will tell you we can't have this. I
get it, especially last year. So they're gonna have to be better on
third down. Yeah, that was a pretty ball hawking defense last year,
but you know coach said not but a week or two ago. Yeah,
I mean sometimes numbers are deceiving. And I'm talking about coach Armstrong with a
new defensive coordinator. Yeah, so we want to we wont takeaways. You
know, we're we're plus I'm taking the football away. But if you can't
get off the field on third down, and sometimes third and long doesn't matter,
the gates it, you know, it neutralizes that. So so we'll
see. I think the bottom line is this, Jason, I get why
folks are predicting where the Gators are going to finish, whether it be win
loss, record or standings sec wise, division wise. I get it,
But I think this is going to turn out to be a situation where the
Gators are better than people think they are. Are they contending for something this
year? Now I'm just being realistic now, but they're they're they're better than
people think they are. And you hope that this is the this takes the
step toward that. Like I said that the Big twenty four class, which
according to those who rank those things, is gonna end up be in top
three probably with that trick. Two more questions, I'll get you out of
here. Looking at the schedule, you got you gotta obviously the first game,
the rematch with Utah this time in Salt Lake City. Then you have
Tennessee in week three. How important is it for Florida to figure out a
way to get one of those two wins out of the gate? I mean,
or at least play well. I mean, that's the thing. If
you lose and play good, you can live with that, but don't go
out and get blown out twice in your in your first three weeks. Yeah,
now, you know, speaking of playing out of the hole. Then
you're really playing out of a hole. You're probably one and two at that
point, and the and the the hard part of your schedule or the harder
part of your schedule still to come. Sure, we'll know a lot obviously.
I mean a road game, had a very good Utah team against a
very good head coach who would really like to get back at ship for what
happened last year in Gamesville. You know, the Gas are going on the
road with a with a team learning about each other and play it altitude,
all challenges, right, But if you win that game, you've got a
chance to be two and no when Tennessee comes to the Swamp in Week three,
And I think I think that to avoid the whole, but you better
take advantage of what you have in front of you at home this year based
on how the schedule is gonna lay out, and look, Tennessee is predicted
to be good just fine again. Yeah right, so, and nothing's gonna
come easy for this football team. But if they can look my partner,
Shane Matthews, he's really optimistic, Shane saying Gators win a minimum of eighty.
I'm not so sure. I'm ready to go all in on that.
Again, like I said, I'm holding with the I think they're better than
people think they are. But look, he nailed it last year. He
said this team will be lucky to win six and that's exactly what happened.
So and by the way, he's pretty smart at football. He's right there.
So I hope he's right. I hope he's right. But but if
he's right, that means though, Jason, you beat Tennessee at home and
we three right, otherwise you're you're up against it. Because as you've seen
on that Florida schedule, there's some there's some swings there. Stretching Carolina George
at at Missouri is gonna be no picnic I can tell you that right now.
Florida State at the end. And and if if they are what people
say they are, they can be playing for an ACC championship. They could
be playing for a lot of things. If Seminole fans hope the coast the
way they say it's gonna go, I have different feelings about that, but
you know that's okay. Didn't didn't take me long to get based, did
so. Look at Daunting and then the twenty four schedules I mean brutal as
well. I mean you're you're you're entering two of arguably the toughest schedules Florida
has ever played. Again, you want to argue with me about eras and
all that kind of stuff, go right ahead. But if we're just talking
about strength of schedule based on either what those teams did your prior what they're
projected to have rosterized, I think you'd have a hard time saying that there's
been a more difficult two season stretch than what they're about to begin here this
year. All right, last thing, tell Gator fans where they can find
the Gator broadcast if they don't have a Gator radio affiliate in their town,
where can they find under broadcasts? There's a couple of ways. And you
know, that's the fun thing about where radio is going and podcasting and everything
else, is that we still have that terrestrial network as you describe. It's
a very great and strong radio network with a affiliate. It's all over Florida
and beyond. But now you know it's available on the Florida Gators app quite
easily, as a matter of fact, Varsity app through I think that's a
you know, that's a lear Field product. It's a cool thing in that,
you know, like when I'm not working, I can bounce around and
I can catch games all over the country. So it's it's as easy to
put it on your phone and stream that in your car or at the house
on the on the on the bluetooth in the house now, so you know
everybody. It talks about how radio is an old entire medium, I think
it's actually getting new legs here with the ability for folks to kind of have
it anywhere at any point. You know. The only other thing is sometimes
there's that delay or it's off the TV screen, so you know you can
pause this, pause that and try and match them up. But at the
end of the day, you have the radio end of it. Over the
year and then and I'm glad you mentioned you have the ability to listen online
now or through a streaming device. So thanks for bringing that up, and
as always, thanks for having me you got man. We were really appreciate
had time enjoy the year up in the broadcast, Boots, you and Shane
Matthews do a great job on the call. You can find sewn on Twitter
or x or whatever the heck. We're calling it these days at Shawn Kelly
k E L L e y Live at Shawn Kelly Live on Twitter. He
puts some great stuff up. Keep up the great work with ESPN. We'll
see on down the road and have a great football season with the Gators.
All right, Thanks Jason, we'll talk to us we get closer to the
ball games. Appreciate, have a great season. Take care Take Care now.
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Again, Print and marketing Specialists, Todd Tedesco eight one, three four
nine, eight two eight eight seven. All right, welcome back Powers on
Sports podcast. We're doing a simulcast podcast here along with the Florida Football Insiders
podcast as well, and it's now time to preview the top ten rated Florida
State Seminoles as they head into year three of coach Mike Norvelle. They have
an opening week showdown with LSU in Orlando on the Sunday of Labor Day Week
and so a huge opener for the Seminoles and no better person to preview the
seminole roster in the program than the voice of the Florida State Seminals, the
director of broadcasting at Florida State one at, Jeff Coolhan. Welcome back to
the podcast, Jeff Jason always great, appreciate you having me on the show.
And man, I can't wait for September the third. I know Nels
fans are ready to get to Orlando. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, it's
gonna be a obviously with the classic finish you had last year in New Orleans,
with the with the block extra point and all that great and the great
year floor State coming off at ten and three year, five and three in
the ACC Top ten finish. It's the highest rated Florida State team in a
while. Here. Obviously a lot of expectations within the program around Tallahassee nationally,
even that this is potentially a college football playoff team. Talk about you
just you being around the team in the spring and in the summer. Is
this group ready to handle those kind of expectations of not just being competitive again,
but we're talking winning big? Yeah? You know that is the number
one question, right. I remember talking about this last spring with a lot
of people, and you know it is. It's an intriguing conversation piece because
you go from expectations this time last year of hey, we just want to
get to a bowl game, right, I mean it's been a minute and
all of a sudden, you got ten wins, You beat LSU, you
beat Miami Florida in Oklahoma, and you're thinking, oh, okay, this
is this is fun, Like this is this is what it used to be
all about. And so you know, the answer to that, I take
the answer from Mike Norvell because you know, he is obviously leading the charge
here with what he has done into year four and the culture he is instilled
with his coaching staff and the players and everybody around the program. And you
know, he basically has said in in you know, answering this question,
if we would have listened to everyone with expectations this time last year, nobody
expected us to be any good, So we shouldn't have thought that we were
supposed to be good. And if we keep listening to everybody on the outside
of our you know, our walls, then we're doing it the wrong way.
And so, you know, it's it's however you want to categorize it,
whether you call it cliche, it's what. It's what the process is
with Mike Norvelle's football program at Florida State and a coach Norvelle lad team,
and so you know, they want to get better every day. Uh,
they're not obviously looking ahead to anything in November or December or January. They're
looking at today and tomorrow when when that day comes, right, And so
it's it's sort of the you know, the coach speak answer, I guess.
But we're gonna find out a lot early in the season. It's almost
like it's Tiger Month with LSU and Clemson in game one in Game four,
So we're gonna know a lot about this football team and where they stack up
in accordance to the national landscape of college football. But I can tell you
they are, they're working, and they're ready to go out and win.
And we're gonna talk about the roster and the returning guys. You got a
lot of guys that could have gone to the NFL and came back, and
we're gonna talk about that in just a minute. First thing I want to
talk about talk about and I know a lot of teams don't do this,
but I saw this in your Twitter feed, which you can find at Jeff
Colhane cul h a n E. Florida State took a little road trip to
Jacksonville, a little team bonding, seems like. Talk about that little road
trip to Jacksonville and kind of what coach Norville was trying to get out of
that. Yeah, it's it's almost mimicking a road game per se, but
it's also you know, it's it's the first week of campus. In the
books, you're starting to kind of get into a little bit of a routine
and then boom, you zapp your guys with a little change and you take
them out of their comfort zone and you take them out to unf where they
don't have a football program, obviously, but if you've got a field set
up for them and the stare did a great job. You put them in
dorm rooms that maybe aren't what the guys are accustomed to, and you get
him out of town for a few days and sort of recalibrate a little bit
and shock the system. It was hot, obviously, there's no shade,
there's no trees, there's no indoor to go into when you have a you
know, a few periods off, you are in the sun, and you're
you're learning a lot about how tough you can be, and so, you
know, as tough as as you can push guys in this era of college
football with no two days or even three days with some guys, you know,
you go back to watching some of the old school movies and and how
it all worked. But I think it's coach Norvelle's way of building camaraderie and
pushing these guys to show them that, yeah, there's a little bit more
you can dig into and go find. Even on top of what we're asking
you to do, you face adversity, you come together a little bit.
There's obviously it's not just practice. Are events and meetings and group team bonding
exercises that bring this group together. So he's been doing it every every year
since he's got here. I like it. I think it's unique. I
think it's a nice twist in the fall camp and it takes you out of
your comfort zone a little bit and shows you what you're capable of in the
face of adversity. I like it. I do like that. I like
that getting, like I said, breaking the monotony of training camp a little
bit and doing some different things. All right, let's get to the roster
a little bit. You've got a bunch of returning guys that could have gone
to the NFL trade, you know, Jared Verse, Travis George, Travis,
Trey Benson, a lot of guys came back that could have gone and
made some money in the NFL. Talk about just the returning guys and the
experience level, how how much those guys are almost like coaches on the field
that coach Norvelle doesn't have to do as much of that policing. He's got
such a veteran group. Yeah, it's a good way to put it,
Jason. It is. It's a huge part of it. I think any
what I've learned around college aletics and really sports in general at every level is
the great teams are player led, and they are obviously held accountable by their
coaching staff, but the great ones are held accountable within the locker. And
I think that's what you have here right now. And all of these guys
that could have went on and and made some money in the National Football League,
and Jared versus case, he was a first round projection, but it
made a lot of money, they wanted to come back, and they wanted
to do it together, and that doesn't happen very often in college athletics.
Right now, it really is almost sort of a you know, an old
throwback with with what we're seeing. And so you have that that player led
mentality, that player led culture, instilled by Mike Norvelle and instilled by this
coaching staff, Jason, and it breeds excitement, but it also it breeds
Yeah, yeah, the blueprint also for the future as well for the younger
guys, like, hey, yeah, we could have made a ton of
money. And in the era of il these guys are are obviously making some
money, which I'm totally fine with, but they're showing the younger guys that,
hey, this is how we do it here, this is how you
hold each other accountable, and this is how you win big. And so
it's why Florida State's a top ten team in both polls in the preseason and
why they're challenging Clemson to kind of unseat the Tigers at the top of the
ACC this season. Looking at the roster looks like it by my account of
looks like there's eleven transfers that came in, plus the high school kids of
those transfers. Give me a couple of names that you really think are going
to make an impact on the on the whether it's the first or second deep.
As far as the roster of guys that you really think are gonna play
a bunch, Well, I always answer this question the same way. To
me, it starts with jahim Bell on offense, because I think he is
versatile. You see what he has done in South Carolina. Yes, catching
the football running the football. He is a tremendou this tremendous ad along with
Kyle Morlock, the two time D two All American that came in from Shorter,
who is a big bodied wide you know, tight end wide receiver that
can catch the ball and also block. I know Mike Norvelle is excited about
Keyon Coleman because Keon Coleman is a pro. Could have went to the NFL,
but he's from Louisiana. He told everybody that, hey, he went
to Michigan State, but he wanted to come back to the South because it's
just different. College football is just different in the South, and so he
came to Florida State. It's it's going to be a great opportunity for Noel's
fans to see two big wide receivers and Johnny Wilson and Keyon Coleman out on
the field at the same time at six seven and six four, which is
really exciting to talk about. But I think what the transfer portal has done,
Jason, it's it's been able to infuse both lines of scrimmage with experience
and talent at times where both of those position groups needed that more so than
any other group on this team, I feel like you go back three years,
you go to twenty twenty, he was the youngest offensive line in college
football, and it showed now. According to Phil Steele, it's the most
experienced offensive line he has seen in all of his years of getting ready for
his preseason college football preview. Ever with the guys they have brought in with
Jeremiah Buyers and Casey Roddick and KeAndre Jones and returners like Maurice Smith and Demitria
Manuel, Robert Scott and Darius Washington. So now you got seven eight deep
on the offensive line, and you're eight nine, potentially ten deep on the
defensive line. And I'll give you a name defensively, it's it's too bad
Darryl Jackson's waiver did not go through. That could be a whole another podcast
for a whole nother day. But I think Brydon Fisk, when you see
him with pads on, he is a mean looking dude that's got a motor,
and I think Nole's fans are gonna fall in love with number fifty five
this upcoming season. Well, let's stay on the defensive side and then we'll
get a quarterback question after that Jared Verse, obviously we know what he is
all all ACC defensive end. You mentioned Fisk, the secondary, four returning
guys in the secondary. You got an Virginia transfer All ACC another dB back
there that seemed to be a little bit of a weak link last year.
Talk about the importance of the secondary growing into the position. Yeah, you
know. I think the secondary is a group that has also been helped.
You mentioned Fentrell Cyprus his addition, who's an all ACC corner out of Uva.
Your return Ernardo Green, you return Jari and Jones, Azaria Thomas,
so you have depth there. I think a guy that we need to talk
more about that we will talk more about it is Kevin Knowles. Kevin Knowles
is a guy that's played since he stepped on campus at that nickelback spot out
of Hollywood, and he has gained almost thirty pounds of muscle Jason, and
they're moving him to safety and he can play both spots. You can play
nickel, he can play corner. But I think they're looking at Kevin as
a guy that can provide depth of the safety spot behind Shyheen Brown and the
King Dent and being versatile. I think what you have in this era of
college football, what Adam Fuller and Mike Norvell are doing. You aren't getting
versatile playmakers in the secondary that can both cover and can come up and play
the run where you don't feel like you have to have a roster loaded with
a bunch of linebackers. And so when some of these guys left for the
portal, some really good players a Mari gaynor Brendan Gant, You're kind of
like, guy, there's gotta be something going on here. I think that's
kind of the viewpoint. You got a lot of guys because offenses aren't line
up and run at you three yards in the cloud of dust. They're gonna
spread you out multiple formations. You gotta cover tight ends, you gotta you
gotta cover guys in the slot. That's what this defense, I think is
trying to do. And when you have the confidence in your front four to
get to the quarterback without bringing extra pressure with the guys like Verse and Peyton
and Gilbert Edmund who's also here from off Carolina. Ye haven't even talked about
Fabian love It yet. Who is it was one of the most needed players
last year and we saw and felt his absence when he got hurt in the
run game. You feel good about what you can do in the secondary for
a group that was a top rated past defense in the ACC last year.
Back to the offense, obviously, Jordan Travis is going to be the trigger
man here leading to charge. What I like is they've got guys behind him
road a maker has played in won games, and so God forbid something happens
to Jordan. You've got a guy that can come in and he's proven he
can get the job done what he did at Louisville. You got a j
Duffy, who's another guy that I know it's competing for the backup job.
Just talk about the depth in that quarterback room. God forbid something happens to
Jordan Travis. Yeah right, I mean knock on wood and we saw it
a year ago. I mean that Louisville game. I think we should talk
more about Jason. I mean that game as much as we talk about LSU
in the state championship, right and rightly so in Oklahoma. And the Louisville
game to me was an early season culture program defining win that that goes went
a long way in last year's ten win season and so you know, Tay
Rottenmaker kind of had a deer in the headlights look at the end of the
second quarter in that one, and then they got him comfortable and he got
comfortable and he was great, and the defense locked it in and did some
great things. And of course they got the running game going with with Trey
Benson and LT and Tray Shawn A Warden that game as well. But you
know, I'll tell you this, Ta Rottamaker's experienced. AJ Duffy's very good.
You hear what Mike Norvelle has said about brock Glenn, the true freshman
who was originally committed to Ohio State, and it sounds like that young man
is doing some very good things. I believe the quote was he doesn't process
things like a true freshman. He's almost ahead of the curve. And so
I'm not saying he's going to be the backup. I think it'll be Tate,
But but keep an eye out for brock Glenn for even next season potentially
when Jordan moves off, as that quarterback room will be in a competition next
spring. Who for who the next starter will be in this offense. What's
the one position group in your mind that if they can, if they can
elevate their game a little bit to one more notch up or maybe two notches
up, that this team can be college football playoff, national championship quality.
It's boring, Jason, but it's the lines of scrimmage. It's the offensive
and defensive line. We ran the football great last year. Six straight games
of two hundred yards or more, you know, tying a school record,
you know, thirty five straight game, thirty five points, six straight games
in a row. That's the longest streak in college football right now. And
so correct myself, I think it's seven straight games of touring yards are more
or last season nearly a school record of eight. But but if the offensive
line can take another step forwarded in continuing to carve out running lanes for Trey,
Benson and LT and depend on who the third running back will be,
whether it's Rodney Hill or Kazaiah Holmes or whoever it will be, it's gonna
set the tone for this wide receiver corp and tight end group to get some
some open looks in the passing game for Jordan. I think Jordan's going to
be able to negate. You know, maybe a mistake here or there with
his escapability and what he can do. But if the offensive line takes the
next step and the defensive line can get better at stopping the run, that's
also coupled with the linebacker corps. I think that's an area that certainly needs
to improve slowing down the run. I think the lines of scrimmage, if
they take two or three steps forward, this is going to be a team
that we're talking about in November as a college football playoff team. Last positional
question that we'll get to the schedule here. Special teams an area that I'm
very familiar with and very that's very important. Florence State didn't kick the ball
very well last year as far as in the field goal game. I know
they brought in a transfer from East Tennessee State. You got Ryan Fitzgerald back.
How important obviously, especially in this month of September, making the make
field goals is going to be for Florida State. Yeah, it's huge,
And that's a huge battle right now. I mean with Fitzy and you just
celebrate a birthday the other day, and Tyler Keltner is a Tallahassee guy.
Child's high school and so I actually met he and his mother in Orlando last
year they were at the bowl game. He's a huge knoll. I mean,
he's coming home to potentially be the full time kicker. It means a
ton to him. And so you've got a great battle going on there with
Tyler and with Fitzy right now. It's huge. You gotta make big kicks
on the road, you know. I think about games a year ago.
Wake Forrest was a game where if we make a few kicks, who knows
how that that momentum changes in that game. It's in Ryan Fitzgerald's DNA.
I truly believe that he just has to get off to a good start and
get some confidence. He had some big kicks late in the year, a
season ago, the game winner versus Oklahoma in the cheese and Bawl. He
is more than capable, But you're right, it's gotta be better. He
can't be twelve or twenty. Gotta be up in that higher percentage echelon of
when a big time fresh las. Yeah, when you're up there, And
I've always looked at this, and you can you know the position better than
I do. In college, if you are able to consistently make field goals
of forty yards or more, you are ahead of the game in college football
and the NFL is usually it's fifty yards or more. With those guys,
you can do that, it's gonna be a huge tool for you. In
another area, Jason punt return is gonna be key. It's not a position
you talk about a lot an area and Micah Pittman excelled in a year ago.
Was that punt return spot and sounds simple in taking care of the football
and controlling field position Keyan Coleman, Lawrence toe Feeley, Deston Hill. Who
will be the newcomer that steps into that spot? And ask LSU how big
of a position that was that cost them games a year ago? When you
have to find a guy that can solidify that spot and just do the simple
play and make it easy. All right, look at a couple more questions
get you out here. Looking at the schedule. Obviously, we you've mentioned
the month of September is going to be critical for Florida State at I mean
LSU and Orlando and then four, then Week four at Clemson. Well again
Week two week three are still important, but those are the two monster games.
If they can get out of that game, that that gate at worst
one and one. You can't go over with two or you're in big trouble.
You can get out of there at least one and one. Remember the
ACC is about it's a top two teams now, it's not divisional, So
you could potentially see Clemson a second time if everybody does their work throughout the
year. But how important it is, obviously with that first game especially,
you can't waste these training camp days. These are these are critical. It
sets the tone, you know, it sets the tone for the entire year,
and you know for the energy year around the program and around the university
heading into October as well, with three home games in a row on the
schedule after the byweek, staring you straight in the face. I mean,
you know, if we're four and oh coming out of that bye week and
coming back to Dope, it's gonna be wild. You know, you know
it, and it's gonna be wild. And those are three winnable games in
Virginia Tech Syracuse. I think Duke is tougher than what people are going to
give it credit for because Duke's not a sexy college football program. But they're
they're a good team. They're a good team, right now and then I'll
say two two big mental you know, check games for you. It's not
the rivalry games. It's going to Wake Forrest and win it. And at
Pitt November fourth, pit is the team in the last five years that has
the second most wins in the ACC Right now. I mean, you know
they're not again, they're not a team to talk about a lot, but
they are a team that's pumped out NFL town and Patton Ardozy knows how to
coach defense. They play physical. You could have some bad weather up there
at that time of the year. Yeah, they're they're blue collar that matches
the city that they're in. So it's not gonna be easy. It never
is. You're gonna battle some injuries. You're gonna face it vert city.
But with the head coach, with Mike Norvell and with the leaders that came
back that bypassed the NFL, you'd like to believe and think that you have
the leadership to be able to handle some of those, uh, some of
those things you're gonna do. But during a regular season, all right,
Jeff, tell everybody where they can find the Obviously, if they can't,
if they don't have a Florida state affiliate in their town as far as the
local radio. Tell aybody where they can find the broadcast on at the Florida
State Athletic website. Things like that, you and Barnon on the call for
another great year Florida State football. Yeah, thanks, Jason, looking forward
to it with with Barnun and Tom Block and our entire crew. It's just
they made my life so easy last year in replacing the great Gene decker Off.
And I shouldn't say replacing you can't. Can't do that, you know,
carrying on that that role. I actually heard I actually heard Jeane on
an interview down here, and he was talking about how you and he text
back and forth like fifty times a week. Yeah. I thought he was
really talking about how much he liked out how well you were doing, and
so he was, Yeah, he's the man. We have a text chain.
We text during games. That's what he was saying. He was over
and I think Munich last year with the Bucks in Germany, he was texting
at four in the morning during the Syracuse game. So we have a lot
of fun. It's a great group and the easiest way to find us if
you can't, If you don't have an affiliate in your hometown. We usually
we pretty much shot everywhere in the state, but checkout seminoles dot com or
you can download the FSU Game Day app. It's free to download. You
can listen to us on your mobile device anywhere you go. Well, Jeff
Man, you're doing a great job. Keep up the great work, and
look forward to an awesome year. I'm gonna get up there for one of
these home games this year, and let's get us back in that playoff man,
where we belong. Hey, I can't wait, Let's go. It's
where Florida State should be. As Mike Norvelle says, you expect to be
talked about like this at Florida State University. So I can't wait. I'm
happy and thankful to be a knowl and be a part of it. And
Jason, thanks for having me on go Knows. Have a great call and
have a great year of Jeff take care. And now a word from Titan
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Florida for your next home purchase. Two zero five seven nine zero one four
zero four. All right, welcome back to our Powers on Sports and Florida
Football Insider simulcast. Now next up, our next team preview is the University
of South Florida Bulls. Year one of Alex Goldish as the new head coach
former offensive coordinator at Tennessee comes down to South Florida places Jeff Scott, who
was dismissed last year, and no better person to talk all things us HAVE
Bulls and the state of Florida college football than Joey Johnston. Joey's a longtime
media member here in the Temp Bay area, also does sideline work for the
USF Bulls radio broadcast and all around sports savant here in the Temp Area.
Welcome back, Joey, Thank you, Jason. Great to be here.
All right, Before we get to USF, first of all, I know
you're a big, big sports fan, tennis fan. We got the US
Open start next week. You ever covered the US Open? Been up there?
I have, I think six times. I was up there in the
in the old Stadium, which was a very unique place. That one of
the things I remember most about it was in the in the press box high
above the old Lewis Armstrong Stadium. No one knew how to control the air
conditioning. It was always on, and we always joked about getting your US
Open cold. So if you were there for a whole two weeks, by
the end of it, you're usually sick. But yeah, so US Open
is is different than Wimbledon. I'll tell you that much. US Open is
New York Night Tennis loud crowds, people that may or may not respect the
wait until the changeovers to move around the stadium. They don't always do that.
So it's it's a pretty cool event, and it's it's definitely a New
York event, no doubt, no doubt. Hopefully we get a Joe Djokovic
Alcarez final like we had in Cincinnati last week, and a classic. So
hopefully there's always lots of dram there's always one or two wild, wild players
that come out of nowhere and make a run and all that stuff. In
the night matches are something that are a classic to New York. Yeah,
absolutely right. I spent many a many a night back in the day getting
back to the hotel in Manhattan like two or three in the morning, because
they would not only do they play at night, but they had this bad
habit of stacking up like two men's matches or a men's match after a doubles
matchssing inevitably don't start till ten o'clock at night eleven. We'll go five sets.
It was, there's there, there is, you know, we talked
about PAC twelve after dark. There is a whole culture of stories of things
that happened at the US Open after midnight, and you know it was it
was something to behold for sure, no doubt. All right, let's get
to the state of Florida before we get to USF just to quick thought on
a couple of programs. Obviously, Florida State is the team in the state
that has the most expectations, you know, huge matchup with LSU Week one.
Just your thought of where Mike Norvelle is that in coming into year four
and it's Florida State, in your opinion, kind of almost back to where
they once were. Yeah, I think they are. I think Mike Mike
Norvelle has got it going in the in the right direction. Obviously, if
they can defeat LSU and Orlando on the first Sunday of the week one,
that would be huge. I expect FSU to be right in there for the
ACC and maybe even the College Football Playoff if if the right things break,
I mean that LSU game looms large. Maybe that's not one you can drop
and get Clemson later in September. Yeah, very very front loaded schedule for
the Seminoles. But I certainly think that Mike Norvelle has built it to a
great point and now they've got to execute. They've got to beat Clemson,
they need to beat LSU if they are serious national contenders. But I think
we've come a long way from three or four years ago when the Seminoles were
really gasping for air. I think, you know, the program is on
the upswing, and I don't think there's any doubt that you can say right
now the Seminoles are running the state. They're they're the best team in the
state and and certainly the best hope of a climb in the ladder, maybe
winning a conference and contending for the national title. As we move a little
further south, the other two big schools obviously no disparaging UCF, but Miami
and Florida kind of in the middle of rebuilds. Both guys are in year
two. Mario Crystal Ball, Billy Napier, any thoughts there, Yeah,
Billy Napiers behind the eight ball for sure. They had a tough season to
open it up, and now they've got what I think is probably the toughest
schedule in America. They open at Utah, that's the opener on a Thursday
night. They just have no breaks in this schedule at all, and really
the way college football is going, even though it's year two, he's got
to win. He's got to win. The Gators have got to got to
make some headway in the SEC. And it's not going to be easy.
And it's not going to be easy after this year when Oklahoma and Texas come
in to the neighborhood. So you know, he's he's he's in a challenging
position. They beat Utah last year's people quite remember if they could somehow go
out to Utah and win, maybe that changes everything. But you know,
they got a new quarterback, Grand Merts. We'll see how he does.
Uh. It's still difficult to wrap my head around Florida struggling over multiple seasons
because just of what we're used to and the resources they have there and the
great players they always have there. But you know, it's it's an unforgiving
world out there in college football, and Billy Napiers gott gotta get something going
this year for sure. And then that at Miami Mario crystal Ball. You
know, the big question is we know he can recruit, but can he
actually coach? Can Yeah, And it's you know it's kind of like I
know, I hear some of the national pundits. You know, there's a
lot of talk about Texas. Texas plays Alabama early, and it's Texas back,
It's Texas back, and it's almost like a punchline. Is Miami back
is almost a punchline for the past couple of decades. It's still it still
remains one of the most mystifying things that I've ever seen in sports, and
I've been around it a long time. Miami's never won an ACC title,
not one. And when they came into that league, I thought they were
going to win it every year. So for whatever reason, they have taken
big steps backward from what they used to be. I do think Mario Christobal
is the right guy down there in Miami to to understand the culture of that
program. I could get the right players in place again, got to get
something done, got to move move, move the needle a little bit,
and you know, got to win your big games. And We've been teased
a lot before. It's been so long since Miami has come through in the
big, big way that we're used to two decades that you sort of tuned
it out. But it would be great for Miami to get back on top
because I think college football is a better place when Miami is at the top
of the food chain. All right, last question, then we'll get to
USF. UCF very similar program to USF. They're making a big jump going
from to the Big Twelve this year. How do you think they will blend
into that conference? Obviously that conference is realigned and added some the Arizona schools
with Utah and Colorado for next year, But how do you think that whole
interc integration into the Big Twelve will go for UCF. I mean, I
think it's it's a great thing for UCF obviously, not only for this year,
but for the future, just the interjection of the funding that they're going
to get and how they're going to be able to build a program. I
know the recruiting is going very well. I do think this year will be
a huge challenge because that's a big step up in competition. I think as
the season goes on, you're gonna see depth become an issue, and I
don't know if you seef's quite to the level of Big Twelve. I actually
think if they could break even and get into a bowl game, I would
I would classify that as a success for year one. I don't think that
they're a realistic contender to win the league right away. I know some UCF
fans may disagree with that, but I do think the jump in competition is
going to be something that's going to be a little bit jarring, and it's
almost like they have to instead of thriving. I think year one, you
gotta survive first of all, and then I think down the line, UCF
maybe a real factor in that league. Let's go to the team that you
cover and you're part of the radio broadcast team. There. USF new coach
Alex Scolish. Tell the fans out there maybe that maybe haven't heard Alex talk
publicly or don't know much about him, give me a little sense of his
personality. Is, you know, as he ready for this kind of opportunity.
He's been on the job about seven a half eight months now. Just
give me your thoughts of being around him for the first seven eight months.
Well, first of all, as people may know, he was the Tennessee
offensive coordinator last year, and by all accounts, he was going to be
somebody's head coach, whether it was USF or another program that would have hired
him. He was He was definitely aligned for that opportunity. He was fabulous
last year at Tennessee. They were the number one offense in the country.
They set all kinds of records, they beat Alabama. He is a fast
paced, up tempo offensive guy that likes to get the ball in space to
his playmakers and and get the defense uh, you know, without getting him
to catch their breath. So USF is going to move fast. I think
personality wise he is. He's very intense. He has a sense of urgency
about him that when you're around him, you you know instantly that he is
not thinking two or three wins is going to be acceptable here. He has
a firelit under him to get it done as quickly as possible, hopefully a
bowl game this year, and if that were to happen, that would be
incredible. I think we could have a parade for him if he could pull
something like that off. But he is not the kind of guy that's gonna
sit back and try to rationalize a two win season. He knows he's got
to win, and he's got to win now. And they've got a lot
of new players. You've got thirty eight new scholarship players, so you're gonna
see a lot of new faces, and we're not even sure who some of
these guys are and what they can do. It's all a learning experience for
a lot of us. But I do think he relates to the USF culture,
and by that I mean he is a blue collar, hard working guy.
He is not a fair haired child. He came up the hard way.
He's coached at every level you can coach from GA to every position,
and now a head coach, so he is he is a grinder. He's
a grunt. He's a great recruiter, and I think he's gonna put in
the work that needs to be done to get USF back, and it isn't
It is a lot of work that's needed, and I think he can relate
to that and he's not afraid of it. And he is a guy that
he's wonderful personality. He's got a great sense of humor. But when you're
done talking to him, he's out. He's back to his office or he's
on the practice field. He is not a time waster. He has a
job, he knows his task. He'll be cordial to you and all that,
but he's got things to do. And I kind of like that approach
because the USF getting back on top is going to require a lot of work,
and I think he's gonna be able to put it in. Speaking of
you know the reason why this job was potentially very attractive to him and others.
New new indoor facility that opened late last year that they're fully utilizing this
year. The approval of the new stadium, give us an update on the
stadium and kind of win that's when we think that's gonna start, and projected
opening day and all that good stuff. Yeah, well, first of all,
the indoor. I gotta tell you that, you know how hot,
how hot this summer has been for all of us. Man, the indoor
is wonderful some of those days watching practice, not only for just you know,
folks like me, but the players just to give him a break and
get him out of the sun. So the indoor is a wonderful asset for
the whole campus. Stadium is moving along. They are projecting a twenty twenty
six opening next up, and I know USF fans have been waiting for this.
The renderings, the drawings. They want to see what this thing is
gonna look like. And then shortly after that, probably sometime in early twenty
twenty four. I think we're gonna see some shovels in the ground and we'll
start to get this thing built. So it's gonna be a wonderful thing for
the program, a game changer to have college football on the campus. You
really can't understate what it's gonna mean, because that is college football. You
know. Raymond James Stadium is a wonderful palace of football, a super Bowl
site and all of that, and it's very comfortable, but it's not on
the campus. And anybody that's going to Florida or Florida State or certainly any
place in the South, you know that's part of the deal. And I
think it's gonna really it's gonna change USFS football program. I thought. I
also think it's going to change USFS campus. It's gonna be a bit different,
a different place. Ask question that we'll get to the actual rosters of
any any talking in the athletic department about his USF going to be any part
of this realignment. Is their opportunity potentially to go to a I know they've
gone unto the AAC this year. Are they in any chatter as far as
potentially to the ACC Any of that kind of stuff. I mean, I
think that's probably the most logical destination if it were to occur. Uh and
and I would think that would be a great place geographically. My problem with
all this realignment is the geography makes no sense. So if USF were to
go anywhere, I think the ACC would be a natural fit. I you
know, who knows what's going to happen, but certainly they're they're in the
conversation, so they're putting themselves in the conversations. They have tons of assets,
the great city, a stadium coming, a program that's that's uh,
that's being that's getting investment, and they're taking this very seriously about getting back
on top. But you know, I think the bottom line is I gotta
see some wins, Gotta see this program do some things on the field,
and then if if the Bulls can do that, then they will make themselves
very, very attractive. I think a winning program in a city like Tampa
with a new on campus stadium would be great for any league. So they're
gonna have some things to sell, but they do need to win some games.
Yeah, as we're recording, there's lots of chatter today that Stanford cal
and SMU are close to getting accepted to the ACC and not done yet,
but that's kind of the way it sounds like it's going. So, you
know, obviously with all the moving parts, and you got Florida State,
Clemson in kind of in some limbo all that stuff. So to me,
you're right, I think USF would be a good fit in the a SEC
if if there was an opportunity down the road to do that. All right,
let's get to the actual the roster itself. You mentioned thirty eight new
new guys on scholarship by my count, eighteen transfers and probably that means twenty
or so high school kids something like that. Very normal for attrition like this
when you have a new coaching staff. Just your thoughts. Give me a
position group or two that you think are going to be a strength of this
team early. I think the quarterback room is pretty deep, and that's everybody
wants to know about that. Alex Scolish is not officially named a starting quarterback,
but the two guys that we all expect to be in contention for that,
I'd be comfortable with either of them playing. Gary Bohannon came in last
year from Baylor just when he was getting things going and they were in a
really tough game with Tulane. He went down and the season was over with
an injury. So he's recovering from a from a shoulder injury. By the
end of last year, Byron Brown came in. He was just turned eighteen
years old. He completed his first twenty one passes against Tulsa and then he
almost beat UCF single handedly with a great second half rally. He's a cool,
cool customer on the field, really polite, nice kid, great athlete,
got an incredible future, I think. So. I don't know if
they would play two guys, but I would be comfortable with either of those
guys playing. So and they've got Bryce Archie, a transfer, and Israel
Carter, who they believe is going to be a big time player. He's
a freshman from Southern California region. So they've got four interesting guys in that
quarterback room. And as we always learned, and we're always obsessed about who's
going to start. When we learned this every year we have to relearn it
is the injuries happen and you're gonna need more than one quarterback. You may
need three quarterbacks, maybe even four. At times. So all of that
depth, you know, poor Ten's very very well. I think on defense,
they've got some really interesting guys up front, and that's where they really
need to improve because as poorly as they've played defensively last few years, the
one glaring thing is just there almost chronic inability to get to the quarterback or
create pressure their sack. Their sack numbers have been very very low. Interesting
guy on the edge Lloyd's summer All who transfers in from Florida. He was
from Lakeland High School and he has a big, rangy, long armed guy,
an athletic guy on the edge. I think he's going to be maybe
one of their big disruptors, and they need disruptors like crazy. Upfront,
they've got more beef on the interior and overall, they've got more depth on
the defensive line. That was another thing that came up for sure a couple
of years ago. They got some injuries and all of a sudden they're they're
down to like no depth on the defensive line, which is a major major
mistake. So if nothing else, they have a lot of bodies and they
have a lot more size, So they just need to figure out a way.
Coach Todd Orlando is the new defensive coordinator, and he's done some good
things at Texas, Houston USC among others. But he's a guy that Alex
Gohler says will create problems for an offen a coordinator. They went up against
each other a lot in the past, So I think if Todd Orlando can
figure out a way to free up some of these guys, some of these
disruptive guys they've got, and put some pressure on the quarterback, defense is
going to improve a whole heck of a lot, because really we've gone two
or three years with the opposing quarterback really just sitting back there throwing darts,
and you can't do that in college football. That's that's a recipe for disaster.
Yeah, and again, I've been around the program a little bit the
last couple of years as well, and to me, they're glaring weakness as
you mentioned, of the trenches, both offensive and defensive line productivity. Alex
is a former offensive line coach, so that will probably be a strength of
his as far as coaching that. And again, to me, you're you're
right. They're going to run a fast paced tempo. If you watch Tennessee
play at all the last couple of years with Hypel, they're snapping the ball
every time, are they Is he going to try to keep that that base
going that every ten You know, it's always like you have to see this
to see what it is. And a lot of the talk that you have
during training camp maybe doesn't translate into the season. But every every player you
talk to, every defensive player you talk to, talks about how fast a
pace they're they're doing this. It's not just you know, everybody says they
play fast, right, everybody in high school wants to play fast, but
this, they say, is faster than fast. This is, you know,
crazy fast. So we'll see how it translates. But if they can
do that and be efficient and not have uh, you know, false start
penalties and things like that usually come up when you're trying this sort of thing,
they could create some problems because if you if you have a smart quarterback
and playmakers and you can you can get up to the line and catch them
out of position, you can you can hurt some people. That's what they're
going to try to do. We'll see when they go to Western Kentucky on
September two, how it looks, but it sounds good. Now we'll see
how it looks. You mentioned the schedule. They obviously start at Western Kentucky
has always been a pretty good program. And then two weeks later, probably
the biggest home game in the history of the program. You got Nick Saban
and the Crimson Tide coming to Raymond James Stadium. What has the chatter been
around the you know, the athletic department, the program. Obviously you don't
want to look ahead to that game because you don't want to overlook Western Kentucky.
But it's the biggest home game they've ever had in their history. Yeah,
it's I mean, anytime you have Alabama involved in anything, it's going
to create attention. So it's it's far and away the highlight of the home
schedule. A lot of people are excited to see something like this. It's
a three thirty game on ABC. Uh, you know what the stadium looks
like. I guess we'll find out how many red red shirts are there and
how many green shirts are there. But it'll be it'll be noisy, and
it'll be an occasion. So we'll see how it goes. I mean,
one thing to remember, you know, Alex Golds beat Alabama last year.
Now you had Tennessee players doing it, but he knows what it's like to
beat Nick Sabe and he can he can speak to he actually did that,
so we'll see if that can translate. The other thing is Alabama's coming will
be coming off their game against Texas, yes, and USF will be coming
off a game against Florida and m So certainly, I'm sure a lot of
work has already been done on Alabama preparing for that game. You hear the
chatter around the nation about, you know, how good's Alabam actually gonna be?
Is this gonna be a down years Georgia kind of just you know,
taking everything away in the sec which which may be true. But again,
it's Nick Saban, It's the Crimson Tide, and I'm not going to discount
them because I've spent my life seeing how great they are and I'm sure they're
going to be very, very competitive this year. I think if as a
USF fan and other fans that are listening that are that are Bulls fans,
I think the thing that you want to see in year one with Alex sure
you want to win games. And I get it, but what you don't
want to do is you don't want to be given up fifty every week.
You don't want to be getting blown out. Be competitive again. Are you
gonna beat Alabama? Probably not, but you don't want to lose fifty eight
to ten. It's kind of games like that that the fans lose interest in
a hurry. Is you want to at least be competitive and you get the
conference games. Be competitive if you win a few, great if you don't,
but you want to be in games going to the fourth quarter. Yeah,
and you know there's no moral victories, but you're right you realistically,
USF has tough odds to win this game, but you do want to feel
good about yourself coming out of it because you could jump right into the conference
after that, and that you know, for for not only USF, but
for every team, that's the bottom line is to win your conference. Something
USF is still not done as a program. So Alex Golish knows that his
biggest task is to be that head coach that actually raises that trophy for the
first time. That's that's where that's the next big milestone for us F.
USF's had a lot of great non conference wins and its history. Notre Dame
beating Clemson and beaten in Miami and Auburn and West Virginia. I mean,
these are these are big time wins. But but they've got to win their
conference and get into a big bowl game. That's how the program advances.
But early, if they could play a competitive game against Alabama in Week three,
that's gonna get everybody's attention. Talk about last thing I'll get you out
here, talk about the NIL component of all this. How is USF doing
on that front? Do they? I know, I've seen lots of things
with the Fouler Avenue Collective talk about how they're how they're competing, especially more
in their conference. How do they how do they think they're gonna be able
to compete with from an NIL perspective. Yeah, it's gotta it's gotta be
very strategic, and it's got to involve everybody, and the Fouler Avenue Collective
is is kind of the main driver of that right now. I think,
you know, probably in the in the past year USF boosters have become more
educated on it and how they can help. Again, you you you don't
have unlimited funds. You've got to be very strategic about how you use those
funds. And the reality is the way college football is going, particularly with
realignment, it's it's these mega programs with with what seems like unlimited money,
and there are going to be times when you cannot compete in that realm.
But you have to be you have to be able to at least selectively compete.
In other words, not give blanket cash to every single player, but
you've got to protect the ones that are valuable to you, and that's what
they're attempting to do. So it's it's a new world for everyone in college
football. I'm still not sure where this is going. I would like it
to, like to see it regulated on a consistent manner where it's not a
bidding process or players are jumping schools all the time. But how that gets
done as anybody's guess. And that speaks to a larger issue of not only
an I all, but conference relignment and just where this sport is going in
the next ten years. And I don't think anybody knows the answer to that
right now, certainly not me. We'll tell everybody where if they don't have
a USF radio affiliate in their market, tell abate where they can find the
USF broadcast and hear you in the team with Western Kentucky in week one.
Well, you can get it streamed off of Go Bulls. Excuse me,
Go USF Bulls dot com. There'll be a link for all of the games
you can click on there you get static, free, perfect reception. Anywhere
in the world you can get a USF game, which is part of the
miracle of modern technology, I guess, and so we'll be we'll be looking
forward to that. The opener is at Western Kentucky on September second. That
game is on the CBS Sports Network and as you mentioned, difficult opponent right
out of the box, maybe people might not view it that way, but
they've got a great quarterback in Austin Reid. They put up a lot of
points. So that USF defense, which is really trying to improve, is
going to get a big test right away. All right. We can find
Joey on Twitter X or whatever we're calling it these days at Joey Johnston j
j O h N S t O N eight one three. Again, he's
also the owner of Joey Johnston Communications. So if you're ever in the need
for any media work content that kind of stuff. Joey's a great outlet.
And again, Joey's been UH doing sports media and media work in the Tampa
Bay air in state of Florida for numerous years and is tremendous at it.
So Joey appreciate the time. Man. Good luck with the Bulls this year,
and enjoy your trip to UH to Kentucky. I'm actually and I'll tell
you a story. When I played at UAB I did. I played there
in a Western Kentucky when John Jack Hardball was the coach, John Hardball and
Jim Harball's father, who's the coach. That was a good Western Kentucky team
that you played, pretty decent. They were always good. Yeah, when
he took over, they were struggling, but he got him. He got
them very competitive. And yeah, you know yeah, Bowling Green, Kentucky.
USF many many years ago before football shared a conference with Western the old
Sun Belt, So USF teams have gone to Bowling Green before, So this
will be interesting. And the Corvette Museum is right down the road right from
Bowling Green. So I think it's gonna be a really fascinating game. I
do. Western is a is gonna be a tough out. I kind of
I kind of think it's going to be a high scoring game. I think
we can be really entertaining, So you know, get your popcorn ready.
You could have some big entertainment right away up week one, no doubt.
Well, Joey, appreciate the time and we'll talk to you soon, all
right, Jason, thanks thanks for listening to the Florida Football Insiders Podcast as
part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network. Please remember subscribe rate
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it next week on the Florida Football Insiders Podcast